Must-see 3D short pushes Unity 4.0 to the limit

A small butterfly sets of a chaotic chain of events in this brilliant CG short, highlighting the new capabilities of Unity's latest update.

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We love this new animated short, The Butterfly Effect, which tells the story of an ordinary guy who, as he nurses his hangover, is propelled into one calamity after another following an innocent act by a small butterfly.

The short was produced by games engine developer's Unity who, earlier this year, approached animation studio Passion Pictures to work with them on a CG animation. The idea behind the film being to really push the new version of the games engine - Unity 4.0 - and highlight it's realtime rendering capabilities.

Push for Unity

Also working with global computing technology company Nvidia, creating the film involved considerable challenges for everyone involved. Unity 4.0 was still in development while the film was being made and it was the first time the team at Passion Pictures had used the software. But, the Unity crew worked closely with them, modifying tools along the way to ensure the best possible output.

Despite the hurdles, the collaborative effort resulted in an incredibly bright, fun and somewhat crazy three-minute animation, which turns the most mundane Monday morning into something much more chaotic.

Behind the scenes

You can find out more about the technical aspects of the project, including the animation pipeline, lighting, shading and VFX on The Butterfly Effect mini-site.